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Hey guys
Topic Started: Oct 27 2009, 09:48 PM (631 Views)
Scooter
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Hey all

Im brand new here and can use alot of help. After having 200 matchbox and hotwheels i decided to embark on making a city to display them all in. I first figured out how big i wanted to make it and talked to my friends about how many cars i would need. ( now im sitting on like 550 after my ebay purchases ( 285 for $70.) In doing so i have alot of questions

Which company makes the most realistic looking 1:64 scale ( id go from 1:53 to 1:68 scale).?

Ive seen Majorette ( which ive liked since i was a kid) Yat Ming from the 80s and matchbox do from the 80s do a good job. But what else would do good a good job of being realistic outside of johnny lighting?

I like ones like Yatming Mustangs where you have the red tail lights out of plastic the suspension wheels and such.

I take things kinda extreme with being realistic with license plates and inspection stickers( to month only do to scale and a cramped hand).Am i the only one who goes this crazy?

Oh yea where do you find supplies to build buildings for these. I hear Train scale S would be good as well as 1:64 buildings.

I also would like to ask if i tried to discribe some carry handle play sets would you guys be able to help identify what i am thinking of and maybe help me locate them?


even though I havent been through the whole site but is there a used car lot on here where i can buy cars and buy land ( handle play sets ) to help build up my city?

thanks in advance.

jay
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Supraman
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Swifty's @Work Alter Ego
Welcome to the Garage! :thumbup:

The best brands for realism (currently produced) are definitely GreenLight and M2 Machines. Almost all GreenLights are all true scale to 1/64, while (going forward) M2 Machines should all be to approximately 1/61 scale. M2 has done a number of great '50s vintage cars which display well with the GreenLights.

MotorMax had a line of cars in 1/60 called "Fresh Cherries" that had cars like the Gremlin, Pacer, Pinto, Granada, Chevette, Fiero, etc. from the '70s and '80s and all were in scale with one another to 1/60. They will look okay (but not perfect) next to GreenLights. Johnny Lightning (like Matchbox) is scaled to fit the packaging. Some are close, others (mostly the larger cars and compacts) are way off.

Most of the handled playsets I remember were Hot Wheels items from the late '70s into the '80s, so definitely give a description and hopefully someone here will know the answer!

We do have a for sale/trade section here, and I believe old442dude currently has some buildings available for sale. Most are probably HO (1/87) scale, as S scale is very hard to come by. For true 1/64/S scale please check out the following link:

http://www.pinecanyonscalemodels.com/s-scalekits.htm

I hope this helps, and please feel free to ask more questions and share some pictures of your collection to date!

PS: What part of northern NJ are you from? I'm originally from Passaic County!
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Scooter
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I could draw a picture of what the play set looked like it wasnt too big. folded in half and locked with a flip. grey plastic with 2 ramps you can enter in 1 was really a bay to lift the car up ( i broke mine) and the other side was a gas pump area with a pump you put in place (cover the slot where it goes). then the if you continue on back it has an incline to the 2nd level where you can park 3 cars and then the red lift goes up and you can part 3 more under it. and below this on street level was 2 gates that went up and you can put cars in there. the front showed a in sticker form (facing street) a parts store and in sticker form facing the gas pump was a tiger mart type of convince store. Now that i think about it it I think it also had little mini ramps you can push in on the front and back ( like for micro machines) but the gas bump the parking on the 2nd level and the gate doors to the bottom under it was for hotwheels. I can try to draw it but i think thats about as close to what it looked like in person as i can get.

Im in the next county over Bergen County.

Oh how is the pricing on them used? I picked up 285 hotwheels and matchbox cars on ebay for $70. But I could use some YaMing and majorette cars but not sure how much they should go for and $5 ea seems high since im looking for used around the block cars ( not new in the package) but Im new so I dont know what is avg price and what is high .

I know there are a few types of cars ( make am models) i would like to get but dont know if they made them or not. Which section would be best to post about that?

I could take pictures of a few of my cars to show you what i got doing on this end. Is there a hotwheels matchbox license plate maker that could be suggested or should i stick to my labels and hand?
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Supraman
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Swifty's @Work Alter Ego
A picture would definitely help- I have an idea in my head that I think matches what you're looking for but I'm not at home and have limited access to researching at the moment.

Definitely familiar with Bergen County! :thumbup: Were you in Wayne this past weekend for the toy show at the Police Athletic League?

$5 each is pricey for Yat Mings but very few people saved them as they were considered 'generic' compared to Hot Wheels and Matchbox- I've paid more than $5 for Yat Mings I've particularly wanted. Majorettes it will depend on the car- some of the older ones will go well over $5 while most of the '80s-current models will go much cheaper.

For information purposes, I would recommend posting in the Bay 10 (Everything Else Diecast) and hopefully some of the cars you're looking for have been done.

There's an online license plate generator that you can 'make' license plates on. It would take a little bit of work but I bet you could resize them and print them out fairly easily! And we would definitely love to see some pics!

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Scooter
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Here are 2 of my cars. im kinda into making things as realistic as possible so on my cars i try to do plates and inspection stickers( by month cause if your familar with 1:64 scale its tiny and try to do more than a month inspection would leave you with writers cramp. I have a website for plate collectors that keeps up on NJ plates and year runs and close enough that you can figure out the month by the plate 3 letters so I try to keep mine as close to that as possible. Some cars have rougher lives than others and plates get dented mangled or missing. Once again keeping it realistic.


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Supraman
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Swifty's @Work Alter Ego
Very cool!

I'm not sure if this could be of help, but CelicaBaby made this graphic for the forum:

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If you cut the right half off and just left it with the "1" you might be able to shrink it down and print it out?

PS- the Ford Courier camper was one of my favorites as a kid. When I get home I'll post a few pics of mine. :)
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Scooter
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Negative on the Wayne show. ( didnt know it existed till you said something.) But maybe Id go check it out next month or whenever it happens again. Im more into the used car aspect. Paint imperfections are ok well played but in good shape is what i strive for.If I learn how to open these up repair broken ones and repaint them maybe that would be something Id like to tackle one day.

Yeah I havent had a picture of one since I had my little display but when I build my city i dont know how it would fit in if it could with other buildings but I would like to get one if i can locate one. Do you have an idea of brand by chance ( a guess that i could run with?) Most if not all my 200 i have right now (before the 285 that arrive are all from when i was a kid. I do have some that are carded but they are newer ones that I think look better on the wall and if I want some for my city ill just buy a 2nd car. I doubt I have any cars worth actual money or anything but just want to share my hobby in this ( being 26 and still into hothweels enough to build a city and make plates and inspection tags has to be a really sick puppy.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Now that I'm home I have access to everything. ;)

There's another toy show at the Wayne PAL on November 29th, but that's the same day as the big toy show at the York, PA Fairgrounds. It's roughly 3 and a half hours from you but well worth the drive- there will be tons of diecast from mint in blister to well worn, and everything in between! If you're interested a bunch of us from the forum plan on meeting up there (quite a few of us in eastern/central PA and at least one each from NJ and MD too).

Pics of my Courier:

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And as for being 26, we're actually about the same age- I'm 29! We have a pretty good age range here from about 15 up to 70. Which is one of the reasons why I'm pretty sure we're both talking about the Hot Wheels Sto & Go sets:

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Probably not realistic enough for your city but tons of nostalgia value! EBay should have them- there were at least four, maybe more. Not including the smaller Sto & Go sets that came out in the late '80s and early '90s.
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Scooter
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believe it or not thats obsolutely not the item. mine was much smaller and grey. Im thinking it might be match box cause i saw this auction and it shows the tabs for the ends of the streets built into the set. it wasnt overally big maybe 8 cars long 2 maybe 3 cars deep. maybe 6 cars high (stacked).

ps i would like 1 of ea car in that picture .

pps i did have the hot wheels one also. but that broke much faster . The one im thinking of never broke just went missing.
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Attachments: MYSTERTY.bmp (1.53 MB)
Edited by Scooter, Oct 28 2009, 01:06 AM.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
How about this?

Hot Wheels USA:

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This is from a rerelease Walmart did a few years ago- ignore the tacky colors and stickers and picture it in more realistic colors.

The cars in the Service Center picture are:

Hare Splitter
Larry's Towing
Turbo Mustang
Hot Bird
Turismo (DeLorean look alike)

All are fairly common, and none should really go over $5-10 (except for Larry's Towing with redline wheels- which will have HW designer Larry Wood's real phone number on the sides, thankfully later blackwall versions of Larry's Towing are much more common and much cheaper). Reminds me- what other makes/models of cars are yuo looking to acquire? I will do my best to let you know which ones have been made and by what companies (and provide pics if possible).
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Scooter
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I would welcome everyone to take a look at my little diagram maybe its a 3rd party itme but i feel maybe a matchbox one.

I would like a few wreckers (gmc) 4 box ambulances from the 70s and 80s and a few ambulances that are vans.
Plymouth K car would be nice, a Sunfire would be nice also. 80s honda accord 70s civic. things like that
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Supraman
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Swifty's @Work Alter Ego
GMC wrecker- Matchbox still uses their mid '80s GMC tow truck so you'll have very little problem finding a few of these cheap.

I'm not sure what a four box ambulance is- could you clarify that for me?

K-Car- Hot Wheels did an '81 Aries wagon, Road Champs did an '83 Chrysler LeBaron convertible (hard to find), and MotorMax did both the Aries and Reliant sedan in their Fresh Cherries range.

Sunfire- none exist in small scale but Hot Wheels did the J-2000 in 1982.

'80s Honda Accord - Majorette, Kidco and Playart did the '79 Hatchback

'70s Civic - Tomica and more recently Fresh Cherries (labeled as the CVCC)

I admit, I'm completely lost on the town playset. When you find one please post pics because now I'm extremely curious as to what it could be!
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